


That Feeling In Your Chest

by auroreanrave



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Multi, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-18
Updated: 2016-12-18
Packaged: 2018-09-09 09:36:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8885845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/auroreanrave/pseuds/auroreanrave
Summary: "Do you think normal people do this?" Mabel asks. She has a blanket around her shoulders and has traded in her IPA for a hot chocolate. Little marshmallows shaped like stars float on its surface (Dipper knows Grunkle Stan keeps them in the house just for Mabel). "You know. Trade stories. Talk about what they've done.""Sure. I mean, less fire and brimstone and defeating an evil apocalyptic triangle," Stan offers, "but yeah, sweetie, I think they do."





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys.
> 
> So, a few months ago, a friend of mine suggested that I watch "Gravity Falls" and about ten minutes into the first episode, I was instantly hooked. I binge-watched both of the seasons as quickly as I could, sneaking in odd episodes around housekeeping and other little duties, ending with me watching 'Weirdmageddon', all three parts, back-to-back in a single evening. After the final credits rolled and I wiped my eyes from the crying (of surprise, of sadness, and mostly of joy), I started writing this work as a way of working through my feelings about the show and the Pine twins. I finally got around to finishing this a couple of nights ago after exams, and I got all teary again, partly as it is, in a way, a Christmas present to myself for surviving a tumultuous 2016.
> 
> I truly, truly hope that I've done some small justice to this brilliant, beautiful gem of a show, and that you like it, even if just a tiny bit.

 

 

When Blurbs and Durland are nearly-retired, and finally, finally, able to marry, they send out invitations to everyone, on the thick off-white notecard they seem to use only for weddings, baptisms, and maybe some fancy Bar and Bat Mitzvahs.

Dipper and Mabel only get around to talking about it in the evening, when both of them are done with work, and Mabel and Waddles are curled up on Dipper's secondhand couch in his musty-smelling apartment. It's all he can afford on a doctoral stipend, but he's been able to spend weeks in the Sierra Nevada, examining the recent discovery of a civilisation previously unknown, and he's two weeks away from being officially a doctor of something.

"So, when are we going? You want me to book tickets?" Mabel asks, waving the invitation in her fist. Her hair glimmers with a coat of sweat and she's still wearing her bright fuschia tee shirt ('Kick Ass, Bee Kind' reads the text; it is surrounded by happy bees made of felt) that she only wears to the gym after her kindergarten class finishes for the day. They're two weeks away from the end of school and Mabel swings between elation and sadness that her latest bunch of glue-chewing rugrats are off to the next grade up.

"I don't even know if I'm going," Dipper admits. He feels the inexorable tug back to Gravity Falls, back to that formative town and that series of summers, but neither he nor Mabel have been back since they finished high school. He feels maybe not guilt, but a slight apprehension. The town has a innocently insidious way of getting under your skin, of lodging its tendrils deep into your chest cavity.

"What? Come on, dude," Mabel exclaims, throwing her arms up. Waddles snorts in agreement, then lays his head back on Mabel's lap to continue the latest episode of the "Ducktective" reboot show. "It's Gravity Falls. It's Grunkles Stan and Ford, and Wendy and Soos, and... come on! Even your dumb degree can't be worth missing it out on."

"It's not dumb," Dipper protests. "I'm going to be one of the world's best cryptoarcheologists and cryptozoologists. It's not dumb."

"All I'm hearing is 'weirdness expert', and where is there a better chance for your work?" Mabel says. "Have a look around, ask Grunkle Ford about it."

Dipper has been thinking of replying to one of Grunkle Ford's emails about this very idea; Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford were currently somewhere off the Sumatran coast, investigating a kraken or something. They send Mabel, Soos, Wendy, and Dipper digital postcards of all their trips - arms slung over each other's sunburned shoulders in Greece, with IPAs in their fists in Rekjavik.

Heading back to Gravity Falls for a scientific trip seems feasible, even if it's under the guise of attending a police wedding. He's got two weeks to finalise his reports and make his case, and then he's free. He could even spend a couple of extra weeks there if he finds anything. The journals were burnt back in Weirdmaggedon, but he can work out enough to maybe make a case or two.

"Alright. alright," Dipper says, sitting down on the couch next to Mabel. Waddles stretches out so that his hind legs are resting on Dipper's stomach. He checks his own invitation again, before looking to the TV screen. "Looks like we're going back."

 

 

The bus driver even looks the same from their first journey there, skinny-kneed and annoyed at being shipped off for the summer to their weird uncle in the Pacific Northwest. Mabel group-chats with Grenda and Candy the whole time, even dropping in a video call or two when the bus is empty enough.

As far as Dipper can tell, Candy is some kind of local whizz-kid, working directly underneath Fiddleford McGucket as his Chief Technological Offer out in Scarsdale, and Grenda is now the Baroness Grenda von Grendinator-Fundhauser, and splits her time between Gravity Falls where she works a little as the owner of a boxing gym and her devoted husband's ruling province of Tyrol.

Eventually, the bus reaches the end of the line, and Dipper, Mabel, and Waddles emerge from the stinky-smelling bus to see a handful of people clustered around the bus-stop.

"Twins!" one of them cries, and the group, en masse, shuffles forward. Dipper drops his bags, lifts the rim of his baseball cap and grins.

Soos and Melody Ramirez are at the front, the swell of Melody's end-of-the-second-trimester bump pushing out the front of her sunshine-yellow empire dress. Wendy, half her hair long and the other half in a buzzed-off undercut that makes her look like a rockstar, sweeps Dipper into a hug.

"Dude! How are you tall?" Wendy plucks his cap free and ruffles his hair, in a way that inspires annoyance and overriding affection. Wendy is the town's newest deputy, to everyone's surprise, until, according to her and Soos' last emails, she had stopped the demolition of Lazy Susan's from a rampaging hellgoblin by sweep-kicking it into the lake. Dipper isn't really sure how.

"Good to see you," Dipper says, meaning it. Soos is next, picking him up like he weighs nothing. "Dude, you're back! Like back back!"

"Like back back!" Dipper can see over Soos' shoulder the three-way hug of Mabel, Candy, and Grenda, and smiles.

"Come on, Soos, let him see everyone else," Melody says, and pointedly looks over at the two men standing nearby. Soos lowers him to the ground gently, and curves an arm around his wife's shoulders.

Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford haven't changed a bit. Or rather, not much anyway; their hair is a little longer, meeting the nape of their shirts, and Grunkle Stan has a new scar, light and pale pink, running from the bottom of his left cheek to the underside curve of his chin ("Damn iPhone zombies", Stan says later, "never go to Florida, kids, it's just awful."). They both smell damp and sweaty and like the pine trees and saltwater of the lake.

It's like coming home.

He and Mabel race into Stan and Ford's arms, and for Dipper, it feels a little like a revelation. He feels more solid here than he does in his cramped apartment, even when he's stepping in for an undergraduate class and explaining some mythology to scare some sleepy freshmen.

"Come on, you slowpokes," Stan says, grousing with affection, and picking up Mabel's bags with one hand, and scooping Waddles up under his other arm, "everyone else is already here."

 

 

The Mystery Shack gleams in the sun, as broken and ramshackle as it ever was. The 'S' in 'Shack' is now half-buried beneath a crust of heavy dirt ("Giant rampage," Ford explained, "totally pathetic in the end.") and Soos is still wearing the faded red fez, but it lodges a hook in Dipper's chest that's been there since he and Mabel rocked up there a dozen summers ago, warm and permanent.

Their room is the same, albeit with bigger beds. Mabel immediately settles down on her old bed, unfurling a Sev'ral Timez reunion poster from her bag and sticking it back up on the wall underneath the little slanted window. Waddles breaks wind contentedly ("Dude!" both Mabel and Dipper exclaim in unison) and promptly falls asleep on Mabel's bed. Dipper sits on the edge of his own bed and studies the floorboards.

"Dude," Mabel emphasises, once she's removed her compact wardrobe, "stop overthinking everything alright. I can hear from you. You can do all your weird, walk-in-the-woods, brainy doctorate stuff - "

"A PhD," Dipper complains, "it's simpler to say three letters."

" - and then you can just enjoy yourself." She leans over and raps lightly on his forehead, over the astronomical birthmark on his forehead. "Come on, poindexter." She descends the stairs in a whirlwind of giggles, and Dipper follows suit, the knot in his chest loosening.

 

 

They have barbecue that night, under the stars, and Ford and Stan both share their locally-sourced IPAs with Dipper and Mabel. They catch up on the kind of stuff that doesn't fit in a postcard or hastily-typed email. Grunkle Ford's nightmares about Bill and the horrors that he tucked away in his mind. Grunkle Stan's hip aches more. The town is recovering from its injuries, the fault lines scarred over and pink, but the tissue still healing. Mayor Cutebiker is in line for the longest unbroken line of challenge in Gravity Falls history.

When the stars come out, the four of them cluster around the fire of the barbecue pit and share stories. They remember the things they faced, the wonders they saw, the terrors they survived. Dipper rubs the thin pink bumps along the inside of his wrist and feels better when Waddles forcefully snuggles into Dipper's arms.

"Do you think normal people do this?" Mabel asks. She has a blanket around her shoulders and has traded in her IPA for a hot chocolate. Little marshmallows shaped like stars float on its surface (Dipper knows Grunkle Stan keeps them in the house just for Mabel). "You know. Trade stories. Talk about what they've done."

"Sure. I mean, less fire and brimstone and defeating an evil apocalyptic triangle," Stan offers, "but yeah, sweetie, I think they do."

"Good," Mabel says, eyes flicking to Dipper. "I know we're not... not normal. I know that. When I was a teenager, all I wanted to be was normal. But I also wanted to be me as well."

Dipper remembers well. Mabel crying when the girls at high school made fun of her sweaters, her unbridled enthusiasm, Waddles. He also remembers her unapologetic love, her unshakeable pride, and her confidence. She's stronger than she believes, his wonder twin of a sister.

"Who needs normal?" Stan asks. "We got it good. How's your research going, kid? A doctor already?"

"Not yet," Dipper says, turning his marshmallow on a stick so it doesn't burn. "But I'm planning on doing some research here when I get the chance. Back up a couple of theories for my doctoral thesis."

"Sounds like a plan," Ford says, nodding approvingly. "Let me know if I can tag along and help."

"I'd love it," Dipper says. Ford beams down at him. Dipper sighs and eats his marshmallow and stares up at unfamiliar constellations, feeling better already.

 

 

The next few days disappear in a blur.

Dipper and Grunkle Ford camp out for a couple of days in a glen a few miles deep into the woods surrounding Gravity Falls in pursuit of a gryphon, which turns out be a) bigger than anticipated, and b) more sarcastic than anticipated. They get clawprints with Ford's patented track-grabber; the super-quick concrete is surprisingly easy to remove from the print, and also wonderfully sturdy, particularly when clobbering said gryphon in the face with it.

Mabel spends her time assisting Wendy with the planning of Blubs and Durland's wedding; she complains to Dipper about the clashing colour combinations ("Two different shades of khaki, Dipper. Two!"), and helps sort out the catering. Mabel and Wendy end up supervising a cake tasting session, a flower arrangement session, and stopping a robbery when someone tries to dine and dash at Lazy Susan's.

Every night, Dipper falls asleep in the surprisingly comfy bed, listening to Waddles' snores and Mabel's chuckle-snorts. He fills three notebooks with notes and spends an afternoon transcribing these notes and building a solid framework for his doctoral thesis around them.

That same afternoon, Pacifica Northwest sits opposite him in the diner, and they catch up. She's a minor Instagram star, still blonde and beautiful, and works in the town as the local town counsellor for high schoolers.

"An actual job, Pacifica?" Dipper teases, as he saves his Word document. "Aren't your parents ashamed?"

"They can go suck a hot fart," Pacifica says blithely, just as Dipper takes a sip of his coffee. He chokes and sputters on his laughter, cream dripping from his nose, and Pacifica laughs and laughs kindly.

That night, they kiss underneath the water tower. Dipper is pretty sure he smells like ozone and body odour, and Pacifica smells like roses and tastes like strawberries, and yet somehow she still wants to kiss him.

Mabel knows the instant that he kicks off his shoes and falls on top of his covers. "Dipper and Pacifica, sitting in a tree, F-U-C - "

She never finishes her sentence as Dipper tosses a pillow into her smug face. Mabel starts laughing and Dipper can't wipe the smile off his face.

"You should probably know," Mabel says, after a full minute, "me and Wendy. We, uh..."

She blushes, and looks a little worried through her smile, and Dipper feels two puzzle pieces click into place in his overworked brain.

"Finally ready to join the 'In Love With Wendy Corduroy' Fan Club?" Dipper says, feeling a lightness in his heart that's half childhood giddiness, and half regular Wonder Twin Affection.

"Dude, you have no idea," Mabel bemoans, dangling her head upside over the edge of her bed. "Dude." They both break into a second wave of laughter.

 

 

Dipper submits his thesis a week before the wedding takes place, in Pacifica's apartment, at her modest kitchen table. She's at work, but leaves Dipper inside with coffee and a kiss and great Wifi for the area.

He sends the thesis off for final submission with a sigh that is half a hiss and half a sigh, and leans back in the chair at the kitchen table. Pacifica's cat, orange and heavy as a rock, winds its way lovingly around Dipper's bare leg.

Dipper is caught between satisfaction and a sinking feeling. He's proud of his work, of everything he's spent years doing. His dreams, his ambition, his goals; they've kept him warm at night and motivated in the daytime, during every crappy barista job or bit of extra credit. He should be happy. He is.

But he knows that this means the closing of one chapter and the beginning of another. This means he'll be expected back in California, back to teaching or whatever kind of life this path leads to. He really, really doesn't know if this can be his life. Not anymore.

Not just because of Pacifica, or Wendy and Mabel, or of... well, anything. Or maybe it's everything. Maybe it's because ever since he arrived back in Gravity Falls, he's felt better. He's regained a piece of himself he didn't know he had shed, and it's slowly regrowing back into him. Dipper's anxiety levels have dropped, even when he's faced against some supernatural entity, or reminded of Bill Cipher's short-lived reign of evil.

"I don't think I want to go," Dipper says to the cat. The cat (Dipper thinks Pacifica calls Crooks) rubs against Dipper's leg, looking right at him, and he cards his fingers through the feline's orange fur.

 

 

The day of the wedding dawns, bright and blue and especially beautiful for August.

Dipper and Mabel and the Grunkles are up and at 'em early; Mabel is in full wedding planner mode, so that Blubs and Durland can get ready for the biggest day of their lives, Dipper is on hand to help her, and the Grunkles are on security patrol. Apparently Gravity Falls weddings aren't complete with some kind of shenanigans.

The ceremony goes off without a hitch for the most part. Mabel has great timing for this sort of thing, and can handle multiple priorities when it comes to everlasting happiness. They've got the rings, they've sung the hymns, and they've released the Great Crows of Matrimony ("No idea, Dip," Wendy whispered to him, as two dozen crows the size of corgis circled the two grooms at the altar, "but it's tradition. No way they'd get married without their blessing.").

Everything goes according to plan until the giant eagle rips the roof off the church as a blubbering Durland says, "I do."

"Get the grappling gun," Grunkle Ford tells Stan, and despite her anger at having her plans interrupted, Dipper can see that Mabel is beyond thrilled when Stan pulls the grapple gun from inside his jacket pocket.

Wendy helps evacuate the church, while Soos helps fend off the chunks of masonry the eagle keeps tossing in the direction of the grooms and the priest. "Dudes!" Soos calls out to all members of the family Pines. "Homophobic eagles much?"

Dipper laughs, despite himself, and watches as Ford uses the grappling gun to scale to the edge of the roof, now a massive hole.

"Finish the ceremony!" Stan calls out to the priest and the grooms. "We'll handle the alt-right assbird!"

"Not homophobic!" The eagle roars, just as Ford swings forward close enough to punch it in the beak. "All marriage is a violation of natural law!"

"What's the plan?" Wendy asks. She's now wearing a deputy's hat above her shift dress in the Corduroy shade of lumberjack tartan. Her gun is in her hand, aiming it at the eagle as Ford scales onto the bird, pummelling it with his fists and disloding the grapple gun.

Pacifica catches it as she ducks neatly under a sweep of the eagle's wing, and tosses it to Mabel. She winks at Dipper as she escapes the church. He might actually love Pacifica, Dipper thinks.

There's a roar and a crunch above them, and the eagle is kicked backwards, high into the sky, where it hovers and then sails away, defeated. Grunkle Ford drops away, flailing, helpless.

"Catch him!" Mabel screams, and tosses Stan the grapple gun. He fires the hook into a pillar in the church, and fires himself up to a corner alcove, crouching. He positions himself again, fires, and dives low, catching hold of Ford as he drops past, fingers gripping his oversized jacket.

They drop as Stan lets go of the grapple gun and crash to the floor.

"Ow," Ford complains, a second later.

"Dumbass." Stan retorts.

"You may now kiss each other!" The priest proclaims, smiling benevolently. Blubs and Durland cup each other's faces and kiss sweetly.

"Hooray!" Mabel cries, handing everyone their monogrammed bubble blowers from the basket at the back of the church, amidst the cheers from the townsfolk who have re-entered upon seeing the eagle depart.

Surprisingly, Dipper thinks, not the worst wedding he's ever been to.

 

 

The party that evening is warm and weird and utterly Gravity Falls. It's held in the town square, the only public space big enough for all the townspeople and invited guests to come and have fun. The DJ plays a dizzying mix of modern electropop, Twenties jazz, and weird post-rock ambient music; the cake is huge and shaped like a sherrifs badge with 'Just Married' in blue icing along the outside; and everyone is dancing and having fun. Durland and Blubs are rosy-cheeked with happiness.

Dipper watches the scene from afar, at the edge of the dancefloor, a beer in his red solo cup. He can see so many faces from his life here. Grenda (replete with devoted husband, baby, and crown) and Candy are dancing with Mabel to the new Sev'ral Timez comeback track, while Lazy Susan and Grunkle Stan slow dance, as if to a song only they can hear. Ford nudges Toby Determined towards Shandra Jimenez, who smiles at him, before he feeds Waddles (in his evening bowtie) a few little snacks. McGucket dances a formal hoedown, while Gideon and his husband Killbone Gleeful dance with Soos and Melody.

These people, for better or worse, are his family. He feels utterly at home here. Everyone here is important to him. Bill tried to rob this from him, from all of them; and maybe that's why he feels so secure here as he does. When it's facing off against monsters or ghouls or a splinter faction of merpeople, he's seen into the abyss, into the darkest corners. He's helped face the darkness.

"Dip?" Mabel asks. He startles a little, shaken from his reverie. In the centre of the dancefloor, Pacifica has taken Mabel's place, and she's dancing happily with Grenda and Candy. "You alright there?"

"Yeah, there's - I need to tell you something. Two things, actually."

"I do too. Sorta. I mean, it's actually only one big thing, so..."

Dipper tips his cup to Mabel. "Ladies first."

"Okay." Mabel squares her shoulders. Takes a sip of her drink. Shudders. "Sorry, forgot I hate malt liquor. One of the goblins keeps changing the wine at random. Sorry, rambling. I, uh... I think I'm gonna stay here."

"Stay here?"

"In Gravity Falls."

Dipper stares a little, then recovers. "Seriously?"

"Yeah." Mabel says, kicking at the grass with her bedazzled shoe. "I just... things with Wendy are going really great, and I really like it here, and the kindergarten teacher has just retired and they're opening the job up for interviews in the next few weeks for the new semester, and I just..." She pauses, bites her lip. "I think this is my home, Dip."

"Okay," Dipper says. "Thank God."

"What?" Mabel asks.

"I thought I was going to have to stay here on my own."

"You - wait - what?" Mabel says, grabbing Dipper's arm with hers, dropping her cup into the grass. A goblin giggles and sneaks away with it into the shadows.

"My two things," Dipper says, warmth overcoming him. "I got my doctorate. Found out a couple of days ago."

"What?!" Mabel screeches, smacking him in his upper arm. "Why didn't you tell me, dorkface?"

"You were busy with the wedding," says Dipper, "and it had an impact upon, you know, this decision."

"So you wanna stay here too? Because of Pacifica?"

"No. I mean, sorta, yeah," Dipper admits, "but it's also because I haven't been happy in a while, and here it feels like..."

"Like home," Mabel finishes quietly.

"Wonder Twins strike again," Dipper jokes. "Un -- unless, you don't want me here and -- "

He's swept up into a bone-crushing hug immediately, Mabel's voice a half-restrained sob. "You dumbass! I was scared to leave you! You're my best friend."

"Now, you don't have to. I didn't want to leave you either." Dipper says, hugging his sister.

"So, what will you do here?"

"Grunkle Ford is reworking a station here to help with the supernatural situation. He's gonna work with Wendy and the Sheriffs Department, try and make an actual taskforce and some proper guidelines. I'll be his number two."

"Ha, number two," Mabel snorts with laughter.

From the dancefloor, Wendy shimmies in Mabel's direction and Mabel breaks away to join her on the grass, mouthing along to the Little Mix song blasting out of the speakers. They're going to be great together, Dipper thinks warmly.

All they need to do is head back to California and move out of their crappy apartment (with Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford on assist), and Dipper needs to both accept his doctorate and then leave the university with all earned graciousness, and then get a place of his own so he doesn't end up driving Stan and Ford crazy -

His brain finally listens to reason, and calms down with the simple command of _chill out nerd._

Pacifica beckons to him, hand outstretched. Her hair glows and she's got the biggest smile he's ever seen. Dipper walks down the little hill towards her, the little lump of anxiety he's been carrying around all summer gone forever, and he knows that everything's going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> In case you were interested, some of the songs at the wedding include:
> 
> "Touch" - Little Mix  
> "Happiness" - Jonsi & Alex  
> "Blue Skies" - Ella Fitzgerald  
> "Sleeping Golden Storm" - Wolves in the Throne Room  
> "Bang Bang" - Jessie J, Ariana Grande & Nicki Minaj  
> "If I Could Be With You (One Hour Tonight)" - Louis Armstrong


End file.
